The 5 Most Important Dudes In The Friday the 13th Franchise
Despite being super violent, bloody horror movies that tend to venture into the realm of titillation for the male gaze an awful lot, the Friday the 13th franchise has really been all about the women. Starting with the first film where the protagonist and the antagonist were both women and then going into the majority of the sequels where Jason Voorhees ultimately would end up doing battle against a Final Girl, women have been the central figures in this film franchise. But that doesn’t mean some fellas haven’t played pivotal roles in the action too.
5. Creighton Duke (Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday)
Aside from being the coolest character to ever appear in a Friday the 13th movie, Creighton Duke is also pretty important because he was basically the human Wikipedia of information about Jason’s true nature. Now I am not a fan of the whole “Jason is a demonic body hopping entity” but it became a thing in the franchise and it was Creighton Duke who provided the 411 to viewers as to just what Jason really was, what his goals were and how he could finally be killed for good (or so we thought).
Duke was a bit of a mystery man so we never found out how he came to gain all of this knowledge himself and aside from cryptic clues that he once faced off with Jason and had sought revenge ever since we knew next to nothing about the shady bounty hunter. What we did know is that Duke, thanks to the charismatic acting job of veteran character actor Stephen Williams, made a truly lasting impression in just one film appearance.
4. Rob Dier (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)
Rob Dier doesn’t get much love from the fans of the Friday the 13th franchise but that is something that really should change. While a surface level look at Rob may make him seem like a negligible victim of the multitudes of people killed in these movies, Rob actually was the guy who kicked off a Trope that became a running plot point in this franchise.
Rob Dier was the brother of Sandra Dier (who has one of the most
memorable deaths in the franchise’s history) and he was the first character to dedicate his life to hunting and stopping Jason Voorhees. Rob begat future Tommy Jarvis, Creighton Duke and was the model for the Jared Padalecki character in the 2009 Friday the 13th reboot movie. So while Rob was an epic failure when it came to being a Jason Voorhees hunter, he was the inspiration for all Jason Voorhees hunters who came afterward.
Plus Rob died in the most overdramatic, scenery chewing hilarious way possible.
3. Shelly Finkelstein (Friday the 13th Part 3)
First things first, Shelly was the worst.
There is no getting around that fact. The guy was an absolute twat. I guess the idea was that horror fans were supposed to relate to Shelly since he was a cliche of what most people thought horror fans were. who was overweight, unsure about himself around the ladies and self-conscious about his looks but was also a merry prankster who just happened to be a huge horror fanboy.
However all of that stuff didn't make Shelly likable; instead it made Shelly come across as obnoxious as hell onscreen. Because Shelly, with his poofy Brady Bunch perm, behaved like a total twat from the first second he appeared in the movie. He was annoying and judgmental (what guy his age lectures their stoner friends about life choices?) and just useless in stressful situations. And his pranks were more cruel than funny...the guy was passive aggressively taking his own self-hatred out on everyone in his friend group.
But despite being a colossal douche canoe, Shelly holds a very important place in the Friday the 13th mythos because it was thanks to Shelly that Jason Voorhees glowed up from a dirty potato sack with a hole in it to the ever so cool hockey mask that the character is known for.
So thank you, Shelly Finkelstein, for inadvertently giving Jason his cool look.
But you are still the worst.
2. Crazy Ralph (Friday the 13th & Friday the 13th Part 2)
“Doomed! You’re all doomed!”
And with the wild-eyed bellowing of those words a horror movie trope was born. Crazy Ralph is the prototype for the Harbinger of Impending Doom characters in future slasher films. Crazy Ralph imparted his own brand of Nostradamus style forewarning while drunkenly riding his beat up old bike all around the town adjacent to Camp Crystal Lake. Of course the deranged proclamations of the town drunk will be ignored and ignored they were for two entire movies right up until Jason Voorhees decided that “snitches get stitches” and silenced Crazy Ralph forever.
1. Tommy Jarvis (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives)
We have seen Tommy Jarvis through three phases of his life as his initial encounter with Jason Voorhees as a kid sent him on a path of mental breaks, recovery and heroic quests of a sort, all the while giving Jason some of his most epic defeats. In The Final Chapter, 12 year old Tommy faced off with Jason and came out on top after hacking Mr. Voorhees to pieces.
In A New Beginning, 17 year old Tommy has to dispatch of a copycat Jason Voorhees in the mental health facility he was sent to live in after the events of The Final Chapter. And in Jason Lives, An adult Tommy has now decided that ending Jason’s existence for good was his mission and he was able to imprison Jason at the bottom of Camp Crystal Lake. No one has racked up more impressive wins on Jason than our pal Tommy Jarvis and be able to walk away without Jason getting his final revenge.
Tommy Jarvis is the #1 Final Guy in horror movie history for that reason.